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Statement of the Case.

"Further answering herein defendants, W. S. Taylor and John Marshall, say, each of them is over forty years of age,

circuit judges of the County and City aforesaid, without authority of law, issued a mandatory injunction, by which he required the legally appointed officers of the election for the City and County aforesaid, to admit in to the polling places during said election many persons who were not authorized or required by law to be in said polling places, and take part in said election and the pretended count of ballots, and were kept and maintained in the said places unlawfully and wrongfully by the said officers of said Judge and the military power of the State, under the direct command of the Governor, by reason of which the votes cast at said election were not fairly counted, but the result left in doubt and uncertainty, and for this cause the said election was void and the alleged and pretended votes cast thereat in said city should not be counted.

Fourth. The said Contestant says that at the said election, held as aforesaid, on the 7th day of November, 1899, in the County of Jefferson and City of Louisville, and Warren, Hopkins, Christian, Knox, Whitley, Pulaski, Bell and divers other counties of this Commonwealth, that many thousands of the legal voters thereof, to wit, more than enough thereof to have changed the result of said election, who were in the employment of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and other corporations, were intimidated by the officers and superior employés of said company and corporations by threats of less employment and discharge from the service of the said company and corporations, and were thereby forced and compelled to vote and did, for this cause, vote for the Contestee for the office of Governor, when in truth and in fact they desired to vote for the Contestant, and would have done so but for such intimidation and duress. For this cause the said election held in said counties was and is void.

Fifth. The Contestant says that before the said election on November 7, 1899, the leaders of the Republican party in the Commonwealth corruptly and fraudulently entered into an agreement and conspiracy with the said officers of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and the American Book Company and other corporations and trusts, by which the said companies, corporations and trusts agreed to furnish large sums of money to be used in defeating the Contestant at said election by bribing and corrupting the voters and election officers of this Commonwealth and debauching the public press thereof; and that in pursuance to the said conspiracy the said companies, corporations and trusts did furnish large sums of money, which were so corruptly and unlawfully used in the counties of Jefferson, Warren, Fayette, Breathitt, Hopkins, Daviess, Logan, Todd, Henderson, Pulaski, Whitley, Knox, Bell, Hardin and divers other counties of the Commonwealth, and by which many thousands of the legal voters thereof were bribed and corrupted, and thereby caused to vote for Contestee. Newspapers were purchased and debauched and office of said election bribed, and the Contestant deprived of many thousand votes which he would have

Statement of the Case.

has been a citizen and resident of the State of Kentucky all his life, and likewise a citizen and resident of the United States all his life. They say further that, as hereinafter more specifically

received but for the unlawful and corrupt conspiracy aforesaid, which votes were sufficient to have elected him.

Sixth. The Contestant further says that in the counties of Knox and Lewis, the County Board of Election Officers, whose duty it was, by law, to correctly certify the result of the election held in their respective counties, were compelled by unlawful mandatory injunctions issued by circuit judges and clerks, to sign false returns and certificates of said election, giving to the Contestee large majorities of the votes cast in said counties; and in the county of Knox, the said board was compelled by duress and open threats of violence from a large body of armed citizens of said county, assembled at the county seat, to sign false and fraudulent certificates. In the county of Jefferson, the officers who held said election at the voting places in the city of Louisville, were compelled to sign like false and fraudulent certificates of said election, by duress, and under threats of Sterling B. Toney, one of the circuit judges of the Commonwealth, who announced his purpose to fine and imprison said officers if they did not sign said false certificates. By reason of the duress aforesaid, and the said unlawful mandatory injunctions, the votes in the said counties and all the precincts thereof, were not correctly counted or certified, and the said votes so certified should not now be counted in determining the result of said election. All of said certificates were signed and made under duress, and would not have been signed but for the facts aforesaid.

Seventh. The Contestant says that in pursuance to a conspiracy of the leaders of the Republican party in Kentucky, and the United States Marshal for the District of Kentucky, to intimidate and deter the Democrats and friends of Contestant from voting for him, said Marshall and other officers and persons threatened to indict many of Contestant's supporters in the United States Court for the District of Kentucky for alleged violation of law in connection with said election, and, in pursuance to said conspiracy, caused their threats to be published in the daily press of the State, and in other forms, and upon the day of said election caused Deputy United States marshals to be and remain at the polling places in the city of Louisville, and in various other cities of the Commonwealth, intermeddling with the said election, overawing, threatening and intimidating Democratic voters and their friends and supporters of the Contestant, whereby many voters, to wit, more than enough to have changed the result of said election, were prevented from voting for Contestant, who otherwise would have done so. Eighth. The Contestant says that after said election and before the meeting of the State Board of Election Commissioners, in the city of Frankfort, a conspiracy was formed and entered into by the Contestee, the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, John Whallen, who was its paid agent, and other persons whose names are unknown to Contestant, to bring from

Statement of the Case.

stated the said Taylor was, on November 7, 1899, duly elected Governor of the State of Kentucky, and the said Marshall duly elected Lieutenant Governor for the State of Kentucky by the qualified voters thereof; that each of them afterwards received

various sections of this Commonwealth large numbers of desperate armed men, for the purpose of alarming and intimidating the members of the said Election Board in the discharge of their duties, and the friends and supporters of said Contestant; and that in pursuance to said conspiracy the corporations and persons aforesaid, did transport to the City of Frankfort at said time, a large number of the militia of the State, dressed in citizens' clothing, and many hundreds of desperate armed men, and unlawfully kept and maintained said militia and armed men in and about the chamber and Capitol where said Election Board held its sessions for several days; for the unlawful purpose of alarming and intimidating the members of said Board and the good citizens of the Commonwealth; and the said corporation and persons also caused the military forces of the Commonwealth to be armed and equipped and held in readiness and the state arsenal to be guarded by armed men for the unlawful purpose aforesaid, and Democratic members of the military companies of the state militia to be disarmed and discharged and their places to be filled with Republicans.

Ninth. The Contestant for further grounds of contest herein says that, in the County of Jefferson, the County Board of Election officers, whose duty it was to ascertain and correctly certify the result of said election held in said County, were compelled by threats of violence and death to the two Democratic members of said Board to accept, and said Board by reason of the duress aforesaid, did accept, false, fraudulent and illegal returns from the various precincts in the City of Louisville, which returns were prepared by the attorneys and agents of the Republican party and were signed by the precinct officers aforesaid under duress and threats of fiue and imprisonment, and said Board of Election officers, by reason of the duress aforesaid, based upon their certificate as to the result of said election in said county upon the said false, fraudulent and illegal returns made by the said precinct officers as aforesaid, and for this cause the Contestant was deprived of many thousand votes cast for him at said election and the Contestee was given many thousand illegal votes to which he was not entitled, to wit, more than enough to have changed the result of the said election, and for this cause the said election was and is void and the alleged vote of Jefferson County as certified by said County Board should not be counted in ascertaining the result of said election in this Commonwealth.

Tenth. The Contestant further avers that many thousand of persons, who were not entitled to vote at the said election, on November 7, 1899, were unlawfully brought into this Commonwealth by the agents of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company and others acting in Contestee's behalf, and at said election were wrongfully and unlawfully voted for the

Statement of the Case.

in due form a certificate to that effect from the State Board of Election Commissioners of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and each of them thereafter duly qualified as such officers by taking the oath of office prescribed by law therefor, and thereby each of them became charged with an express public trust for the benefit of the people of the State of Kentucky. They say that the proceedings referred to in the petition herein by which it is alleged that the contests over the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor were tried and determined, and by which it is alleged that the authority of these defendants to act respectively as Governor and Lieutenant Governor was terminated, were and are utterly void, and of no effect for the reasons hereinafter stated, and if effect be given to them, and these defendants be thereby deprived of their respective offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, and plaintiff, Beckham, be thereby installed in the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, these defendants will be thereby deprived by the State of Kentucky of their property without due process of law and both they and the people of Kentucky, and the qualified voters thereof will be deprived of their liberty without due process of law, and will be denied the benefit of a republican form of government, all of which is contrary to the provisions of the fourth section of the fourth article of the said Constitution and to the Fourteenth Amendment to said Constitution, the benefits of which provisions are hereby specially set up and claimed by these defendants both for themselves and for the people of Kentucky, and the qualified voters thereof, whose representatives and trustees these defendants are."

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"Defendants further say that, if the State, after having furnished to its citizens and electors in a number of its counties official ballots upon which it required them to vote, or not vote

Contestee in said election; that the number of votes so cast were sufficient to have changed the result of said election.

The Contestant will, upon the grounds aforesaid, at the time and place and before the tribunals stated, contest the election of said William S. Taylor to the office of Governor of this Commonwealth."

Statement of the Case.

at all, in the election of a Governor and Lieutenant Governor, shall reject their votes, and thus refuse to allow used them to participate in the election of such officers, merely because they in voting the ballots which the State required them to use, and if the State shall, thereby and on that account, refuse to allow the persons respectively chosen for the office of Governor and Lieutenant Governor by the majority of the qualified voters of the State, including those using the ballots aforesaid, to take their seats and perform the duties of Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and shall in lieu of them seat other persons, then the State will thereby deprive the said citizens and electors, all of whom are both citizens of Kentucky and citizens of the United States, of their political liberty without due process of law, in violation of the Constitution of the United States, and will thereby deny to them the benefits of a republican form of government in violation of the Constitution of the United States; and will thereby also deprive these defendants of their property without due process of law, all of which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution of the United States."

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"And defendants further say that if any such pretended meeting of members of the General Assembly was held either on January 31 or February 2, at which any action was taken or attempted to be taken on the reports of said Contest Committees, the said meetings were held secretly, without any notice to any of the Republican members of the General Assembly and without any notice to either of these defendants that such meetings were to be held, and without any opportunity either to the said Republican members or any of them to be present, or any opportunity for either of these defendants to be present at such meetings at which the said contests were to be heard and determined. And if any such meetings were held or attempted to be held on either of those days, and any determination of either of said contests was pretended to have been had, it was utterly void on account of lack of notice, and opportunity to be present or to be heard as just herein stated, as well as for the other reasons heretofore given. And to deprive these defendants or either of them of their offices by such action would

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